Dear Mayor Chestnut, City Commissioners and Mr. Corliss,

The Brook Creek Neighborhood Association requests that you deny Mr. Miller nonconforming use of his property at 1207 E.. 13th Street and require him to demolish the attached garage. We also request that you require him to properly demolish the remaining foundation and fill in the crawl space.

As you are aware, this home burned in January 2008, and the owner has yet to properly demolish the property. Mr. Miller has not met the City's deadlines regarding the demolition of the property on numerous occasions. He did not meet the City's deadline for demolishing the house and filling in the crawl space within 30 days. As of July 12, 2009, the flooring has been removed, the foundation is still present, the crawl space is filled with trash, leaves and other plant debris, and a layer of dirt has been placed on top. This is not what the neighborhood had in mind when the City ordered Mr. Miller to remove the structure and fill in the crawl space.

The Brook Creek Neighborhood Association has concerns about allowing this property to become “legal nonconforming”. Mr. Miller has a history of not complying with City regulations and deadlines. If this property is allowed to become “legal nonconforming”, what is to stop him from using the property for commercial or industrial uses? Would he be allowed to rent the garages as storage units or rent the property to a car repair shop? Then, what if Mr. Miller sold the property and the “legal nonconforming” use was grandfathered in?

The Twelfth and Haskell Recycle Center is a perfect example of how this can happen. The property is zoned RS10 but it is being used as “scrap and salvage operations”. What was once a quiet tow lot in a residential zoned neighborhood has been grandfathered in for industrial use. The effect on the surrounding homes if profound, but apparently there is nothing we can do about the noise, heavy truck traffic on narrow streets and trash because the business was grandfathered in even though it is a completely different type of business than the tow lot.  We do not want this to happen with another property in our neighborhood.

Please require Mr. Miller to demolish the attached garage and remaining foundation, and to properly fill in the crawl space. If he cannot, or will not, do so within a timely manner (please keep into consideration how much time he has already had), we ask that the city properly demolish the property and charge Mr. Miller accordingly.

Thank you,

Julie Mitchell, Brook Creek Neighborhood Association President

1231 Brook Street

Lawrence, KS 66044

865-3688